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Topic: RC Hailfire Droid (Read 4890 times)

Well, there's a whole half an aisle at most Targets dedicated to RC/electronic stuff that I'd never buy, but that doesn't automatically make them failures. While maybe not a classic "collector" market item per se, there are a lot of RC enthusiasts out there who may buy one despite not being into Star Wars otherwise.

It's like the RC Flying ships they did last year. According to Hasbro, those did well enough do introduce a few more this year (like the new Falcon). I don't know a lot of folks who bought them, but someone must have or they wouldn't be making more of them this year.

This RC Hailfire Droid has kid appeal with it being a Clone Wars item and it will have significant backing from Hasbro (a BP to go with it, TV commercials, etc), so I think it will do fine. Will it be the hottest SW toy out there this Fall? Maybe not. But I'm not sure that means it will be a 'failure'.

It's new, it's something different, and let's face it - it's a hell of a lot better than Star Wars Choppers or some of the other things they've tried in the past...

Yeah, I'm sort of with Jeff on this one. There are a lot of RC things out there at Target, WM and especially TRU, so there must be a market for them somewhere. I know as a kid I always wanted a "good" RC vehicle (not Star Wars, just in general), but never really got anything more than the cheapo kind. I think a lot of kids still think they are "cool" to some extent. I do sort of question how well a Seperatist vehicle will do. Sure, the vehicle itself lends well to being RC, but it seems like that sort of stuff in general doesn't sell as well as "clone" stuff. Heck, they even packed a clone in with this anyways the way it looks. I don't now which others would be the best choice (although the Turbo Tank Jesse mentioned probably would be cool, but much more expensive), but we'll see how it does. I guess this is the "Clone Wars" big vehicle in a way this year, since the $100 assortment is more Vintage Collection based this year with the AT-AT.

My 6 1/2 year old son is pretty geeked about - but then again he isn't the average kid. I pretty much shell out the $$$ for anything SW related, so, to him, me buying this is a given (though I am not going to drop any money on this thing til I see a video of it in action).

we never grabbed the Hailfire, and my SW collection is all about play, every toy I buy is for my son (i relive my childhood through him). I think some collectors might vomit if I showed off what we got going on in our house. I am thinking I will be taking some pictures of the chaos soon and post it all in the collectors section.

back on point - since this is all for my son - I could see him really digging this thing if it is what I am expecting it to be.

also, just curious, is the Clone in this pack from CW or is it a "realistic" version? Not a deal breaker - I would just prefer a non CW one.

I think the AT-AT's as much geared at the Clone Wars crowd as this is by the way... Sure it's going to go for OT people but like I've mentioned before, AT-AT isn't that far removed from any other AT-whatever and kids will want it I think. Lots of play value, it's clone-ish... I think it's got that dual-appeal some vehicles maybe don't have.

Anyway back to the Hailfire, like Jeff mentioned, this is going to have a battlepack specifically made to "counter" it in a play pattern, and it's going to be featured in commercials unlike a lot of other things... Hasbro seem to feel it's got potential then. It's being made specifically for the 3.75" line too, not as a separate piece for some other line.

The RC ships were a good point as well, as those weren't something I saw as big sellers but they've apparantly sold regardless what my impression was. Those weren't tied to the 3.75" line either. I think that's going to be a big key.

I'm wondering if the Hailfire's going to be in the cartoon, or if it's just a thing Hasbro ran with on their own? I think if it's debuting in the cartoon at some point too, that's going to also help it immensely. So far that's a droid that hasn't shown up anywhere in the series though (very strange given its popularity).

That's kind of my thoughts too Jayson, but there wasn't mention and I didn't get a chance to ask.

It seemed kind of a good bet though. A number of things from presumably future episodes were shown, like Mace WIndu.

I figure the Hailfire's due for some time in the toon though. Considering its screentime in AOTC, I'm surprised it hasn't turned up yet. The Snail Tank Droid hasn't turned up though, but it also wasn't put out in anything but a movie deco either.

I was hoping to get this until just now seeing that picture. It's WAY too chunky to me. I know it's probably impossible for Hasbro to design/manufacture one as thin as the movie Hailfire droid and still make it RC, so I'll be okay passing this one up.

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I'm just a humble collector trying to make his way through the universe...of toy aisles."We are strong. We are resilient. We are American." - President Barack Obama, State of the Union Address 2010